Monday Musings: From Eminem to Coady

Well hello November!  Are we really in November?  It would appear that it is essentially Christmas as it dawned on me while in Michael's that Christmas carols were being played over the stereo system.  Sigh. Which leads me into my links, only one of which has a Christmas reference - I promise!

It's Overflowing - Home Organization Ideas - November

With Christmas around the corner and our holiday party to plan for, it is very clear that we need to get our butts moving and get organizing.  I love how she organized her kitchen and know that I need to spend time reading about how to de-clutter.

From Fries to Fit - Homemade Protein Bars

Given my lack of carnivorous desire, I am constantly looking for ways to increase the amount of protein in my diet.  I can't say I'm a fan of store-bought protein bars except the Honey Stinger Protein Bars, which aren't too bad, but I always try to find ways to make things at home.  With that, my brother, and fellow blogger over at the Daly Dose On Sports came over to test out this protein bar recipe.  We also tried these from Oh She Glows - I have yet to find a dud recipe on her blog!  Both recipes were good; however, I found the pumpkin bars a little bland - but I think they could be jazzed up by adding raisins or some nuts.  As for the Oh She Glows squares?  They are a-maz-ing!  This is a must try recipe!

I wanted to give a shout out to the new Eminem album out this week; I have been listening and loving it. (Never had any doubt that I would adore it!).  Rolling Stone pens an article about the success of the album thus far.

Another shout out goes to Lynn Coady who won the Giller Prize for her collection of short stories Hellgoing. I have yet to read the collection but will definitely pick it up to see for the words that won it for my fellow Nova Scotian.  Maclean's points out the timing of the win, one month after Alice Munro won the Nobel Prize - where fiction is traditionally dominated by the novel. The Toronto Star also examines this feat and wonders about an increase in popularity for the short story.

Spoon fork glow?!

I have never done any sort of recipe feature on the blog, but I have found two recipes that I adore so much I feel compelled to share.  Before I dive into them I would like to make a few things clear.  

1. I am not a great cook.
2. I am beyond a picky eater.
3. My husband refers to my kitchen stints as "tornadoes" - leaving a destructive path in my wake.
4. I am not good at meals - I am an appetizer, side dish, snack or dessert gal.  
5. I am not a true recipe follower - I invent, I cook/bake on a whim resulting in many, many substitutions. This can be problematic if the result is good, as I have a hard time recalling what it was that I added (case in point - Peanut Butter & Honey Chocolate Chip Cookie incident of 2009). 

Now that we have these important details out of the way, let's get started.  Recipe #1 comes from Angela of Oh She Glows and Green Monster Smoothie fame.  She is a vegan blogger who shares her moments of culinary brilliance with the online world.  I am in no way a vegan, but I can appreciate her healthy approach to eating and have turned to her for healthy snack ideas.  I have been known to make a Green Monster myself on occasion!  My current fave of hers are her No Bake Peppermint Patty Bars.  True to form, each time I make these I never have the exact ingredients on-hand, so I have been improvising.  The latest adaptation to this recipe is listed below, I will not go into detailed instructions as Angela does a fabulous job of outlining it for you:

Base

• 2 cups rolled oats, put through the food processor until it becomes a flour
• 1 cup mixed nuts (no oil, no salt)
• 5 tbsp cocoa 
• 2 tbsp coconut sugar (this is lower on the glycemic index, however, I recommend pulsing it through a coffee grinder so it blends better)
• 2 tbsp any milk you have on-hand
• 5 tbsp pure maple syrup
• Dump in some dark chocolate chips, however many you feel is appropriate

Chocolate Topping

• 2 Lindt Dark chocolate bars (I use 70%)
• 1 hunk of coconut oil
• 1-2 top-fulls of pure almond extract
• Dollop of cashew or peanut butter
• Flaked, unsweetened coconut

For Recipe #2 we will turn to the duo at spoon fork bacon. This blog features luscious recipes and beautiful photography.  Many of their recipes are an indulgence, for example, today's Chocolate Chip Bacon & Orange Kissed Pancakes - what is not to love about this combination?!  I have, however, convinced myself that their Cheesy Quinoa Cakes are a healthy choice - if you forget about the oil. 

 And, of course, given my statement above, I made some slight adjustments to these babies.  See below for the details and check out their website for the instructions.  

• 2 cups cooked quinoa 
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella
• 3 tablespoons all purpose flour (sometimes 4 depending on how much quinoa I have)
• A bunch of parsley, chopped finely
• 2 chopped green onions
• ½ celery stalk, chopped finely
• A large amount of garlic (I use a large soup-spoon from our weekly jar of food processor garlic)
• 1 egg
• Sprinkle of sea salt

I hope you enjoy!  I would love to hear about your favourite food bloggers and the recipes.  Feel free to share in the comments section below.